The Barge
Strategy Campaign At the beginning, all the AI bots will grab shotguns. Versus The Survivors In co-op play, a team should favor selecting Assault Rifles. The long and medium ranges in this chapter mitigate against shotguns whilst the Crescendo Event and Hordes work against the Hunting Rifle. Naturally, players should feel free to experiment with different weaponry mixes in a team, but a weighting towards the Assault Rifle will invariably be found to be the most effective in the long run. All team members should naturally have Dual Pistols. This chapter features significant numbers of randomly loitering (and spontaneously attacking) individual Common Infected. For this reason, it is easy to run low on Tier 2 ammo if a team does not adopt the good habit of culling them with Dual Pistols. Faced with the Crescendo Event at the ore pile, players three main options: fight it out on the top of the pile, quickly fall back to the base of the pile (thus creating distance and separation) or move into the conveyor belt gantry (thus creating a tight and deadly, two-way choke point for the Common Infected). Players should not forget to explore the rear of the stern of the ore ship. A Smoker and Boomer often spawn on the ore ship upper deck whilst a Witch will usually materialize in the bow area. Minor supplies will usually spawn topside at the bow of the ore ship. Unless a team is spoiling for a fight and has good ammo stocks, it is not strictly necessary for a team to go below decks on the ore ship. Whilst grouped at the bow of the ore ship dealing with enemies in the dredge scow below, players should keep an eye out for a Special Infected sneaking up on them from the rear. Common Infected will be thickly clustered on the deck of the dredge scow located at the ore ship's bow: to conserve ammo, a grenade is useful here. The Infected This level is well-suited for the Charger, due to its long, open areas. As a Hunter, don't go for random pounces unless you are playing in Realism Versus; otherwise, the Survivors just have to shoot in the direction of your silhouette. The Charger really comes into its best moments of effectiveness once the Survivors have passed the boat lying dead in the water. From there, a Charger can wait until the Survivors are all the way across the water, and then charge one of them all the way back. A Spitter can work good, too, if she spits where the Charger takes the Survivor. Also, the street just past the water is a good place to charge, and probably the very best charge spot comes at the hill. On the hill, the Survivors move at a very slow speed, and if you're lucky, you can charge them down into the water. Smokers can also pull Survivors from the top of the hill. If done properly, you can easily ruin their team's progress and secure an easy win for yourself. However, if you get a Tank before they start up the hill, you can hide behind the hill and wait until they get to the top, then punch them. A direct hit should send them flying down to the bottom of the hill, damaging them greatly, incapacitating them or killing them outright due to the fall distance, but if you aim for the water, you can kill them instantly. But if they get smart, the Survivors will stay down near the bottom of the hill and put up as much firepower as they can. In that case, do your best to get and hide on the boat―preferably behind the cabin next to the bridge. That way, when they finally come, you can smash them back over the edge and get your sweet revenge. Behind the Scenes Notes *This is the second campaign of the game to feature a Crescendo Event with crows; the first one being the finale of Blood Harvest . (When players get to the top of the gravel pile next to the ore ship, they startle a mob of crows and so trigger a Horde of Common Infected.) *A map of this level appears on the safe room wall at the beginning of this chapter. No player navigation route is shown thereon, however. *This is the only chapter in the game to have safe room graffiti relating to a following chapter, namely: "ALLISON MARK HAS A SAILBOAT READY AT THE BRIDGE MEET US THERE," which is followed up in the chapter-end safe room by:"ALLISON - BRIDGE IS DOWN WE ARE SCREWED". It is possible that the person responsible for these messages also drew the map on the wall for Allison to follow. He may also be the dead guy in the boat in the comic. **If the above statement is indeed true, allison and mark may have left to raise the bridge. it is clear they did not survive. *A half-sunk fishing boat appearing partway through this level not only resembles that owned by John and Amanda Slater in Boathouse Finale but bears the same name. Nearby, too, is another fishing boat that is visually identical to the Slater's boat. *For the first time in Left 4 Dead, crossing water slows players (a normal game play attribute in ''Left 4 Dead 2''.) Elsewhere in Left 4 Dead, players can run at full speed through water in No Mercy and Death Toll; especially in the finale of Death Toll where the water is deep enough to submerge a crouching player. Easter Eggs *In the beginning safe room of the level, there is a poster on the wall of a man with a ram's head with the words "Welcome To The End." A reference to the Illumanati and other conspiracy theories. *The Slater's fishing boat named St Lydia II from the finale in Death Toll is seen again in this chapter. Its wrecked condition hints that the Slaters earlier ill-treatment of the Survivors (refer The Sacrifice DLC comic) did not go unrewarded by fate. *In the beginning safe-house, a piece of wall graffiti states that "Lou F. turned into one of the BIG ONES!" Given that the Tank is conceptually based on the Incredible Hulk, Lou F. would logically refer to Lou Ferrigno http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Ferrigno, the actor who played The Hulk on the TV series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Hulk_%28TV_series%29. Category:The Sacrifice Category:Left 4 Dead Category:Left 4 Dead 2 Category:Downloadable Content Category:Chapters